Amateur photographers hope to fix Wikipedia's 'terrible' pictures

Wikipedia has strict rules for photography and copyright, so the pictures uploaded must be a contributor's own, freely licensed or in the public domain.

As a result it contains many images added by enthusiasts rather than taken by photographers.

In some cases that merely means a non-descript image - but sometimes they are much worse than that.

A prime example: the comedian Emil Wakim, of Saturday Night Live fame.

For a week last November, the photo above - apparently taken at a stand-up show in New York - was his Wikipedia picture.

When it was removed, an editor noted "having no picture is better than what's currently there".

The photo of the English footballer Kyle Bartley, taken in 2011, has also been highlighted by social media users as evidence of Wikipedia's picture problem.

He might not be paid but Bryan feels there is something in it for him too, saying working on the red carpet has made him a better photographer.

One of his favourite experiences with a celebrity was with Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood.

"He was just such a kind person, and said it was so cool that we were doing this."

The Edinburgh festival, Cannes and the Nobel prizes are some of the events covered so far, and the project says its photographs are viewed around 100 million times a month.

Some of the biggest names in entertainment now have a WikiPortraits image as their Wikipedia picture.

While those pictures attract attention, the project is also proud to have taken photos of people, such as under-represented filmmakers, who had no Wikipedia picture at all.

Frank Sun is a filmmaker and cinematography who does photography as a hobby. His work on WikiPortraits includes pictures of Florence Pugh and Ben Stiller.

Also based in New York, he has taken pictures at Cannes, Sundance, and the Toronto film festivals.

He fondly remembers an experience with Laetitia Dosch, the French actress, writer and director.

"She said 'my photo is terrible, it is from years ago. I am so excited to update as any time people search for me, it is an old photo'.

"I think she was pleased."

What does the future look like? WikiPortraits hopes to attract more photographers from around the world to cover events in their countries.

While sports photography is being featured, there are no plans for video.

The glitz and glamour of the red carpet will always be a draw.

"Our dream is to get credentials for the Met Gala and the Oscars," said Jennifer Lee.

"That's when we know we've made it."